


Sayuri

by QueenLadle



Category: Naruto
Genre: Angst, Childhood, Childhood Trauma, F/M, Fluff, Hero Worship, Hurt/Comfort, Minor Character Death, Original Character(s), Romance, Slow Burn, Teacher-Student Relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-27
Updated: 2019-02-04
Packaged: 2019-02-07 14:50:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12843492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenLadle/pseuds/QueenLadle
Summary: He was like something out of the story books she hid under her bed and read by starlight in the still hours of the night. He told her he had the power to make dreams come true, and she decided then and there, she would follow him to the ends of the earth. But how can you trust a man who barely knows himself? Things can be as dangerous as they are beautiful, and innocence is easily corrupted.Updated sporadically.Obito x OC





	1. Enter Sayuri!

Vegetables were chopped with a skilled hand, the person doing the chopping obviously experienced in something more than culinary pursuits. Yumi put the knife down carefully. She would need to stop doing that, she had renounced that part of her life years ago,” she thought. But old habits die hard.  She looked up from her chopping to watch her daughter across the room. Ordinarily, a child of about eight might be playing outside with friends, or, if the weather was poor, they would go round each other’s houses and play together inside.

But Sayuri played alone.

There was a time once, when Yamaguchi-san had offered to look after Sayuri for a while, whilst Yumi had some ‘well deserved time to herself’. Yamaguchi-san had 3 children of her own, so one more would not hurt for a few hours. Or so they thought. 2 hours into her visit, the Yamaguchi children ran to the mother to complain about their guest. “She was up in the tree, then she was falling, and then she was floating, she hit the ground, but didn't hurt herself at all!”

Mrs Yamaguchi in turn had a quiet but firm word with Yumi. Sayuri was scolded, and Sayuri cried, and was never invited over again. Such unnatural occurrences were frowned upon in the village. Anything strange was kept away. This included most visitors.

When the small family moved to the village, they did their best to conform. The office worker Kenta, his wife and four year old child would not be the ones to break the status quo. They had left their past behind them. There was nothing irregular about them at all. There was a slight wariness about the newcomers, as to be expected for a village that had hardly any visitors, some questions, about the unusual colour of the mother and child’s hair, a bright red, but this was quickly smoothed over with a vague “it runs in the family.”

So the family was allowed to live a quiet, peaceful life in the village. Out of trouble.

But Yumi found it was hard to keep a small, inquisitive child, now eight years old, out of trouble. She seemed to be behaving well enough that day, when Yumi looked across from the kitchen area to the other side of the room. Her daughter was doing some colouring. Yumi hung her apron on the hook, picked up a magazine from where it had been put on the kitchen table, and crossed over to join her daughter.

She stopped short a step from the low table where her daughter was sat. There was a copy of an old battered book of ninja skills for beginners next to her . Sayuri was copying a page, drawing in figures practicing the moves. The drawings looked suspicious like herself, all sporting red hair.

“What are you doing, Sayuri?”

“I’m drawing ninja Mummy, look,” the child replied, waving the paper aloft for Yumi to see.

She snatched the paper away. “You shouldn't be doing anything to do with shinobi! What have we told you, plenty of times?”

The child looked up at her mother, her bottom lip wobbling.”But it's just pictures mummy, I thought it would be okay.”

“What would happen if your teacher saw you drawing these kind of things Sayuri? What would happen then?”

That started the tears, and Yumi felt a twinge of guilt. But she needed to be firm.

Yumi knelt down to her daughter’s level.

“Sayuri-chan, where did you get this book from?”

Sayuri stopped mid-sob, “On the shelf mummy, wi-with all the other books.”

_‘What on earth was it doing there?!’_ Yumi thought, but kept it to herself. Now wasn’t the time to be scaring her daughter.

“Okay,” said Yumi evenly. “well you must tell me if you find any more books like that. You know it's not allowed.”

“Okay mummy,” said Sayuri, a sound of resignation in her voice. She was clearly not happy with the arrangement. Not for the first time, Yumi wondered why they had ever moved to this village, where things were so restricted. However, their child was at least safe here.

Yumi took a tissue and wiped her daughter’s eyes. “Now, do you want to watch a film sweetie? Let’s put one of your tapes on before Daddy comes home, how about that?”

These words made an enormous effect on Sayuri’s demeanour, and she immediately brightened, her face lighting up in a brilliant smile.

“Oh yes please Mummy, I want to pick one please!” She sped off towards the shelf where the video tapes were stored.

Yumi couldn't help but smile after her. “Careful Sayuri-chan, you'll do yourself a mischief.”

***

When Tattemae Kenta came home from work, he would take off his coat, leave his shoes by the door and put on his slippers, before scooping up his daughter in his arms and spun her round. The action was met with delighted smiles and giggles.

Of course, this practice could not go on forever, but Sayuri was small for eight years old, and that day was no different.

“How is my loveliest girl today,?” He asked, after setting her down. “I hope you have been behaving yourself.”

Normally Sayuri would launch into a tirade about her day, what she had been up to, and would gabble on for a whole minute without drawing for breath, but this time, she was quiet and looked at the floor, before looking at her mother, and back to the floor again.

“You were a bit naughty this afternoon weren't you Sayuri-chan, but it's alright now,” cut in Yumi.

Kenta was about to ask what had happened, but his wife shook her head behind their daughter, and mouthed I'll tell you later.

Kenta nodded, then looked at his little girl, putting his hands on her shoulders. “Well, as long as you're okay now, that's all that matters, Sayuri chan.”

She nodded, her grin wide.

***

His wife turned upon him as soon as Sayuri was in bed.

“She found this!” She exclaimed, holding up an old copy of ‘Ninjitsu Grade 1’ “She said it was on the shelf with the other books.”

Kenta stared in shock. “I thought that was up in the attic…”

“The attic?!” Yumi seethed, “I thought you had got rid of everything!”

“I did… I just thought...just in case…” Kenta tried to reason.

“Just in case what? We promised each other that we would get rid of everything. That we would come here, and or daughter would live a normal life. Away from war, away from danger. And now, she’s I don’t know, climbing in the attic and getting up to goodness knows what.” Yumi slumped down onto the sofa, her head in her hands. “What are we going to do with her, Kenta? She’s not like the other children.” Yumi started to sob, and Kenta put his arms round his wife to comfort her.

“No,” he said, “She's too much like us.”

***

Sayuri seemed quiet at breakfast the next morning. She ate her cereal well enough, but in a sort of dazed way, her face glum.

Yumi wondered if she had heard them arguing last night. ‘ _No. She can't have.’_

Perhaps she was ill.

Yumi put her hand underneath her daughters thick fringe, to her forehead.There was no fever, as expected, but there was the throb of energy pulsing through her veins.  Yumi quickly pulled away.

“Mummy?” Sayuri questioned, looking up.

“You're not ill are you sweetie?”

The child shook her head. “No mummy, I’m fine.”

Yumi nodded, then turned round and took down a blue tin from one of the high shelves in the kitchen. She opened the lid to reveal large round chocolate chip cookies. The soft ones that had the right amount of chew to them.

“Would you like a biscuit Sayuri-chan,” she said, holding the tin out. Sayuri face immediately light up, and she nodded her head vigorously.

“Thank you Mummy!”

“Just don't tell your father okay?” said Yumi, smiling as Sayuri ate up the sweet treat.

***

Sayuri ran along the streets to the village school, her red hair tied into two plaits, a blue ribbon tied in a bow around her head.

Her mother, like always, had told her to hurry up, lest she be late, but she needn't have worried. Sayuri could run very fast if she wanted to. Unnaturally fast. But she was not sure if that was something she was allowed to do.  There was something about being fast in the book she had read yesterday. Although it was called ‘agility.’ But she couldn't read the book anymore. It was a shinobi book and shinobi were bad and dangerous and she should have nothing to do with them.

However the book had talked about how shinobi were meant to be helpful, and protect people.

It was all very confusing for an eight year old.

Just then, a gust of wind took the ribbon from her head, and Sayuri chased after it, running at full speed. The ribbon blew in the wind past a bench, and instead of climbing around it, Sayuri jumped onto the top of the seat and jumped down again without loosing her footing, continuing the chase.

Then she skidded to a stop.

He was tall, and clad completely in black. Black sandals on his feet and black trousers, and a long black coat.  Short black hair protruded from a mask, the design of which a Sayuri had not seen the like. Black stripes on orange, like a tiger, and towards the left, one eye which seemed to be staring right into Sayuri. And in one gloved hand, her ribbon.

“Well, do you want your ribbon back little one?”

His voice was deep. But soft. Sayuri jumped as she realised she had been staring for far too long to be polite.

“Um, sorry. Yes please.”

He made no move toward her, so Sayuri started taking the steps to claim her ribbon back.

She had not gone two paces when he spoke again

“That was a good jump just then.”

Sayuri stopped, and looked at the ground. “Sorry, did you see it? I’m not meant to do that.”

“I think you jump very well little one. And run fast too.”

His words encouraged Sayuri, and she looked up at him. She had never seen him before, she was sure of it. It wasn’t just one of the village men wearing a mask. No one had ever complimented her jumping or her running before. Rather, they told her to stop making so much mischief. She looked up at the mask, and a black eye gleamed at her. She found his stare intense so looked away quickly.  Summoning her courage, she asked;

“Do you know… is there other people that can jump like that? No one else in the village can.”

“Yes.” The response was short, but encouraging, so she probed a little further.

“Can you?”

“Yes.”

Sayuri bit her lip and prepared for her next question.

“Masked man-San, are you...are you a shinobi?” As soon as the word left her mouth, Sayuri looked around, half expecting one to the village elders to appear and scold her.

But they were alone.

“Yes I am little one.”

Sayuri broke into the widest grin, and stepped towards him “Oh really, what are you doing? Are you on a mission?” The questions came out quickly in her excitement.

“That's a secret little one.”

Sayuri sighed. A secret Another grown-up thing. “Well you better be careful masked man-San, they don't like shinobi much around here, they think they're evil.You're not evil are you, Shinobi-san.” She looked up at the visible dark eye.

A beat.

And then, “Your ribbon, little one.”

Sayuri pulled away from his gaze with great effort.

“Oh, yes…” she said distractedly.

“Would you like me to tie it?”

She nodded dumbly.

He tied the ribbon in her hair, finishing off with a bow. He was almost as good as when her mummy did it.

“Run along now little one, you don't want to be late.”

Sayuri set off.  When she had gone a few paces she turned back round to wave at the masked man, who lifted his hand up in a farewell greeting.

***

Zetsu appeared out of the ground beside Obito.

“So that's the one is it? **She's only a child, how can you be sure this power is manifest?"**

"Everything points towards her being useful. Don't you worry."

**"Are you sure? You shouldn't be deviating from the plan."**

"I'm sticking to the plan. This is...just in case..."

"So long as you know what you're doing."

"Of course I do.”


	2. Tragedy strikes

It was the weekend. And being a warm summer day, Yumi decided to take her daughter out on a boat trip over the lake.  They sat in one end of the boat whilst a gentleman rowed for them for about an hours round trip.

Sayuri, being Sayuri, liked to point at various waterbirds and the shadows of fish under the water, whilst gabbling on about whether or not there were mermaids in the lake and what it would be like to be a fish and “Ooh, look at that one over there Mummy!”

She leant over the side as she did so. 

“Sayuri sit down properly,” Yumi reprimanded, “You might fall in.”

In truth Yumi was not scared about Sayuri falling in. That was exactly the problem. She would be able to rescue her too easily. Luckily, Sayuri sat still and managed to behave herself relatively well for the rest of the trip.

***

It was not easy escaping her mother’s grasp.

After the boat trip, Sayuri’s hand was held with a firm grip and she was not able to wriggle away as her mother lead her through the market .

Her opportunity came when her mother again talking to Mrs Imobe. Mr Imobe was Sayuri’s father’s work friend and superior. The family came over sometimes for dinner.

Mr Imobe was always very nice to Sayuri. And Sayuri’s mother and Mrs Isobe seemed to get along, and have long chats together, as mothers do.

The grip relaxed on Sayuri’s hand and Sayuri slipped off.

She ran up to the masked man waiting at the other side of the market.

Hello!’ she said enthusiastically. She briefly wondered why no one else seemed interested in the stranger, but the thought was soon forgotten in the excitement of seeing him again.

“Hello.”

“Mummy just took me on a boat on the lake, over there, see?” said Sayuri, gesturing with her finger.

“Yes I saw.”

“What, from all the way over here?” asked Sayuri in confusion. The lake was a little way off from the market place. At least 15 minutes walk. “Well,” she continued, “Mummy is shopping now so I’ve gone to play.” With that she started skipping off, and the masked man followed.

“How is your mission going?” she said, as she skipped along the streets.

“Well.”

“That’s good. I wish I could be on a mission.”

“Do you now?”

“Yes,” said Sayuri jumping over a tree stump, “I think it would be fun,” she stopped and turned around. “Do you think I would make a good ninja?

The mask cocked its head to the side and looked to be considering for a moment. “I think you’d make an excellent ninja.”

“Really?” Sayuri was delighted. Then she remembered what everyone said about shinobi in the village. “It would be nice if I could be a ninja,” she said wistfully, and started skipping off again.

“You never know, something might happen.”

“Maybe…” she said distractedly. They reached a bridge that went over the river, with a low wall on the sides so that people wouldn't fall in. Sayuri climbed up onto the wall and walked along it, carefree. She suddenly teetered and held out her arms to steady herself. Her small hand was gripped by a black glove, and all at once she felt a spark of some sort of energy.

“Careful little one,” said the masked man, and helped her down off the wall.

Their hands parted and Sayuri held out her hand in front of her, trying to see where the energy had come from.

“It’s called chakra,” he said, and put his gloved hand behind hers, and Sayuri suddenly felt energy rushing towards her hand, which began emitting a soft blue glow.

She stared at in wonder. ‘So this is  _ chakra.’ _ Sayuri had read about it in the book before.

“Could you teach me about chakra shinobi-san?” Sayuri asked looking at her hand.

“Maybe some other time.”

Sayuri looked up.

He was gone.

Her mother came rushing up a moment later

“There you are Sayuri! Why must you be so naughty and run off like that!”

“I was playing mummy.”

“Oh never mind!” She took Sayuri’s hand firmly, then paused, staring at the spot where the masked man was. An expression that Sayuri had never seen before passed across her mother’s face.

“Come on Sayuri chan, let's go home,” she said, with a degree of finality.

***

Sayuri was running again.

This time she was running home from school. She had been made to stay late for jumping too high in the playground. She didn’t mean to. But at home, if she was good, maybe she could get a chocolate chip cookie again.  
  


“I’m home!” she called out, taking her shoes off, and replacing them with slippers at the front door.

No answer.

The soft _pat_ _pat_ of her slippered feet sounded heavy in her head. 

The sound of cicadas crept through an open window.

Sayuri stopped and stared.

There, in the middle of the floor, the bodies of her parents lay still. If she had been younger, like little Harumi, she may have thought they were sleeping. But Sayuri was eight years old, practically grown-up, and she knew this was the kind of sleep where they didn't wake up. But this happened to old people, like Takao-san, last winter. Her parents weren't that old, were they?

Sayuri felt a scream rising up through her body, and opened her mouth to let it out, but no sound came. Silent sobs wracked through her body, tears dripping onto the wooden floor. She fell to the floor and cried, hugging her knees to her chest, trying to make herself small as possible.

Numb.

Sayuri didn't know how long she had stayed like that, rocking back and forth, but she eventually  became aware of a hand stroking her hair.

“Masked man-san?” Her voice was a whisper

“I’m sorry, little one, I should have come earlier. There were whispers, but I...I could hardly believe them.”

“Believe what Masked man-san, you’re not making any sense,” said Sayuri, burying her head into the crook of his arm.

“This village doesn’t like people like you little one, they wanted to get rid of you. Your parents would never let that happen, and sadly, they paid the ultimate price.”

Sayuri, who had been whimpering quietly, suddenly stopped making any noise at all. ‘ _ How could people be so mean?’  _ She knew people said things about her, but this... she could hardly believe it.  Her head was gently lifted away from the cloth of the masked man's shirt, and a gloved thumb brushed away the tracks of sorrow upon her face. She found herself examining the patterns on his mask.

He stood up, and held out his hand.

“Come with me.”

She took the hand and was pulled from the world, in a swirl of colour.

She felt dizzy, and her head pounded. All around her was grey, then blue and red and yellow and purple.

Then black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh no! What tragedy! I wonder who the culprit is, hmm hmm... ;)
> 
> I wanted to get this posted on the 4th, and it's now the 5th 00:03 JST. Oh well.
> 
> \- Ladle


	3. A rainy new landscape

Sayuri awoke to the sound of rain pitter pattering on the window. The room she was in was unfamiliar to her.

She lay there for a while, looking up at the white ceiling. She did not cry, all her tears had been spent the night before. After some time, her curiosity got the better of her and she slipped out of bed, and walked in her bare feet towards a window.

She was in some sort of high building overlooking the town. The buildings were all metal and modern, and grey, with pockets of green. Sayuri could see people in the streets below and she watched to see what they were doing. That woman, she was doing her grocery shopping at a big store with a red front. The couple over there, they were getting some type of snack food from a stand. Sayuri hoped they had sweets in the place she was in. Sweets were her favourite. Those children, they were playing ball in one of the residential streets; Sayuri wondered if she could find some children to play with herself. 

She looked on, and her gaze stopped on a fairly large building, two stories high. It looked to be a school of some sort. There was a grass area beside it, and on it she could see figures doing some kind of exercise involving throwing some type of grey objects, but Sayuri was too far away to see exactly.

“Do you like it?”

Sayuri gave a little jump at the voice. “You surprised me Masked man-san!” she exclaimed, smiling up at the mask.

There was the hint of a smile in his voice. “Well then, we’ll have to work on your observational skills little one.”

Sayuri wasn’t quite sure what ‘observational skills’ meant, she thought it might be something to do with noticing if people were about to sneak up on you, but didn’t voice her thoughts on the meaning of the phrase. Instead she looked at the window again, this time at a drop of rain making its way down the glass.

“This is Amegakure. The village hidden in the rain.”

“Amegakure,” she breathed. Then louder, “Why is it hidden?”

His explanation was patient, not like Sayuri’s school teachers who would chide her for not doing her reading properly and for being, as they put it, ignorant.

He told her of the hidden villages of the shinobi, and how each one would train its ninja with secret techniques only known to the village. There was a few names of villages he listed, and Sayuri did her best to try and remember them, in case he would quiz her later. Her old school was fond of surprise questions.

“And then we have Amegakure. Where we are now.”

“Amegakure is a ninja village?” She muttered, thinking aloud. “Then that means, I get to, “ she turned and looked up at the mask, trying to look him directly in the eye. “Do I get to be…”

“I’m hoping that you can train here as a kunoichi, yes.”

‘Kunoichi?’ Sayuri tilted her head to the side in confusion.

“It means a female shinobi.”

At this, Sayuri broke out into a wide grin. “Yes! Thank you Tobi-san!” she exclaimed, bouncing up and down, “Then I can go on special missions,” she jumped onto the bed, “And defeat the bad guys!” She finished with a high kick off the bed, eager to show off her skills.

Her dreams of ninjai expertise quickly disappeared as she landed with a bump on the floor. 

“But,” Sayuri said quietly, tears beginning to form in her eyes. “My parents would never let me. It's selfish of me,” she finished, letting the tears fall.

Tobi crouched down beside her, a gloved hand wiping away her tears. “Shh little one. Don’t you think your parents would want you to be happy? And now you’re away from that mean village, I’m sure they would love for you to be a shinobi.”

Sayuri stop sniffling. “You really think so?”

“Yes. I think you’ll make them proud.”

Sayuri smiled again. Tobi was so nice. She was glad to have made a friend like him. 

“So when do my lessons start?!” Sayuri asked, bouncing back up on her feet.

“Soon, little one,” said the masked man, getting up himself.

“My name is not little one by the way, it’s Sayuri.”

That’s a very pretty name. And my name is not masked man-san, Sayuri chan. Its Tobi.

Tobi. The name sounded strange to her, but she liked it. “Okay, Tobi-san. Nice to meet you.”

Nice to meet you, Sayuri-chan., then he held out his hand. “Come. There’s some people, friends of mine, that I want you to meet.”

She took it, and he lead her out of the room, into a hallway. The walls were bare off white, and plain floorboards were underfoot. There were some doors to other rooms, but Tobi did not take her through any of them, instead he lead her down some spiral stairs. They were made out of metal, and the steps were quite harsh on Sayuri’s bare feet. She let out a whimper of discomfort and Tobi stopped the descent.

“What’s wrong Sayuri-chan?” he asked softly.

“My feet hurt,” she complained, standing on one leg in an attempt to alleviate the pain. A second later she found herself being picked up, and she wrapped her arms and legs around him.She felt the movements of his body as he breathed, and the soft thud of his heartbeat, and was comforted by them. The rest of the way down went much quicker and Tobi soon was unwrapping her limbs and placed her on the floor. Sayuri looked around. The hallway on this floor was much the same as the one above.

He walked right and they stopped at the second door on the left that they came to. He slid it open and Sayuri followed him inside.

The layout of the room was made up of three sofas, one in front of the doorway, facing to the right, which Tobi directed her to sit down upon, before taking a seat himself, his pose at once confident and relaxed. The second sofa lined the back of the room, and the third lay opposite to where Sayuri was sat. On it, were the friends that Tobi had earlier mentioned. They were both clad in similar fashion, a long black coat with red clouds, but other than that they looked very different from one another. One was a female, with orange eyes, and pretty blue hair, and a piercing under her lip, and a flower in her hair. Her expression looked soft and Sayuri thought that they could be friends. The other person, a man, had bright orange spiky hair and much more piercings on his face than the lady. Lastly, he had cold grey eyes that seemed to be appraising Sayuri critically as he looked her up and down. His stare was so intense that she turned to Tobi in an attempt to bury herself in his top.

She felt a hand stroking her hair comfortingly.

“So, this is the child? It was the man’s voice. He certainly didn’t sound like someone who wanted Sayuri there “She looks very young.” The way that he said had Sayuri snapping her head up, ready to tell him that she wasn’t very young thank you very much, and was in fact, a whole eight years.

She pouted at him, and for a brief moment the man showed a look of surprise, before resuming his deadpan stare. There was a noise behind Sayuri that could have been a chuckle.

Luckily, the staring contest was cut short by the voice of the woman, who asked,

“What’s your name sweetie?”

Sayuri pulled away from the gaze of the grey eyed man, and greeted the lady with a wide smile. She figured it was best to make friends with everyone, except when they were mean to her. “It’s Sayuri, what’s yours?”

“I’m Konan, and this is Pain,” said the blue haired lady, guestering to the man next to her.

Pain. The name was certainly fitting, especially if everyone felt as Sayuri did under his gaze. As a rule, she preferred the name Tobi. It sounded much nicer.

“So, Sayuri,” Pain began, fixing her with his cold stare. Sayuri couldn’t help but return the gaze. She felt something bad might happen if she looked away. “You wish to train in my village child?”  
“Your village?” Sayuri blurted out before, she could stop herself. She thought it was Tobi’s village, and felt her cheeks burning up for having got it wrong.

If Pain was amused or annoyed by her reaction, he didn't show it. “Yes, I am leader of Amegakure, and I don’t let just anyone into the academy. You need to prove you will be loyal. Outsiders are not viewed kindly. And there is the reputation of the village to protect. Agree to all of this, and I may just let you in.

Sayuri wanted to do nothing else than bury herself into Tobi’s top again, but she felt that such an act would be viewed as a sign of weakness. INstead she summoned her courage and looked Pain straight in the eye.

“Yes Pain-sama, I will do my best to serve the village. Please allow me to train here and become a shinobi of Amegakure.”

He nodded. Very well. You may stay.

Sayuri blinked. That was it. She thought there might have been some special test she had to pass.

There was a beat, where Sayuri sat unsure what to do with herself, and she look towards Tobi for guidance. He responded by standing up out of his languid pose.

“Come.”

She followed him out of the room, back past the stairwell, and through a door at the end of the corridor.

It turned out to be a kitchen, all stainless steel and brown wood. It seemed to be equipped with all the necessary things a kitchen should need, and in the center was a wooden table and six chairs to go with it. Above the sink was a large window with a slatted blind, which Sayuri ran to in an attempt to see more of the village. It was still raining. Sayuri had a much better view from here she thought, compared to the bedroom window before. Especially as she could see the ninja academy more clearly. Or what she guessed was the academy. She was about to ask Tobi to confirm it, when his voice broke through her thoughts.

“Sayuri-chan, are you hungry?” He was looking into the fridge.

She hadn’t thought about being hungry until that point, but now the question was raised, Sayuri felt that she was quite hungry, actually. “Yes.”

Tobi withdrew from the fridge with a bag of bread in his hand. “Sit down,” he said, nodding his head towards the table, “And I’ll get you some breakfast.”

Sayuri did so and watched as Tobi put two slices of bread in the toaster, left the bread on the counter, retrieved a plate from the cupboard above, put it down, then stood and stared at the toaster, arms folded.

“Tobi-san, is that the academy there,” Sayri asked, pointing out the window. 

He lifted his head up and went to the window to look out himself. “That’s right.”

“And I’m going to train there?”

“You are.” 

“Yay!” Sayuri clapped her hands, “What’s it like in the academy, did you go there?”

“No.”

That was confusing. How was Tobi a shinobi if he didn’t go the academy? “Where did you go?” she asked.

There was a pause. “It doesn’t matter,” he replied, in a tone that suggested she better not ask again.

Sayuri resumed looking out of the window, watching the rain patter down. Where did Tobi come from, she thought and why is he in Ame? Was he on some kind of top secret mission?

She was pulled out of her thoughts by the movement of a plate being set down in front of her. Two slices of thick white toast with butter and strawberry jam. He also had filled a glass with water.

“Thank you,” said Sayuri, minding her manners.

Eat. I need to discuss something with Pain and Konan. And Sayuri was left by herself.

The toast was quite nice actually, and Sayuri had started on the second slice, when suddenly, a plant emerged out of the ground.

The toast dropped from her hands, and Sayuri continued to stare in disbelief at the leafy appendages slowly opening to reveal a man who was half marshmallow white, and half pitch black. He wore the same cloak that Pain and Konan did. 

‘That's strange’, she thought. Sayuri was sure it had been a couple thing, but now she wasn’t sure. Maybe she would ask Tobi about it later.

“Hello little girl,” Spoke the white half.

“Um, hello,” she said, feeling very small, her eyes fixed on the strange man.

“What are you staring at?” Came the black half, yellow eye gleaming.

“Nothing”, Sayuri said quietly and looked down at her plate. She started to pick at the dropped piece of toast.

“You’re Sayuri-chan aren’t you?” Said the white half, “Tobi told us you’d be here.”

“Yes, I am, what’s your name?”

“We are called Zetsu.”

“Nice to meet you Zetsu-san. What do you do here? Are you a ninja too? I’m going to be one, I’m going to join that academy over there,” she gestured over to the window

Yes, I am a skilled shinobi-”

“Cool! Said Sayuri, leaning forward, “Do you do any cool missions?”

“I do lots of missions, travelling all over the world,” he grinned.

“Wow! I hope I can do missions like that!”

“Maybe you will, if you grow.”

She was a bit put out, she was eight years old already. “I’m going to go on lots of missions, even before I’m grown up!” She declared.

“Is that so”, White Zetsu chuckled, “You go Sayuri!”

 

“Yay,” she giggled, swinging her legs back and forth on the chair, “Can you show me some cool ninjitsu?”

“Why should i show you little girl?”

“Oh, um, I’m sorry,” said Sayuri, looking down again, “I just thought we could be friends…”

“Friends?” The question was posed without mockery or threat.

“Yes, I want to make a lot of friends, I want to be with friends with Zetsu-san, and Konan-san, and maybe Pain-san, but he seems a bit scary, and of course Tobi-san, Tobi san is my bestest friend!”

“Who’s your best friend Sayuri-chan?” 

“Tobi!” Sayuri turned in her seat to smile at him, “You’re my best friend, is it okay?”

Of course.” 

Her smile grew, “Tobi-san, when do I start at the academy?”

“Tomorrow, if you’re lucky, you need to do some shopping first.”

“Okay, let’s go shopping now!” She jumped up and ran out of the kitchen, but bumped into Pain, who looked down at her as one might look at a mosquito.

He made a sound of annoyance, then walked through door on the left. Sayuri stood still in the doorway, staring at the spot where Pain had been. Tobi came up behind her

“What’s wrong?”

“He doesn’t like me,” she pouted, “I don’t know what I did wrong…”

“I’m sure you didn’t do anything wrong little one. Now, you need to get dressed, you’re going shopping with Konan.”

“But I thought you were going shopping with me Tobi-san. I want you to come.’

‘I know, but I can’t come with you,” He stopped the “why?” from leaving her mouth with a gloved finger to her lips. “I need you to be a good girl and be nice to Konan. That would make me very happy, Can you do that for me?”

She nodded. Anything to make Tobi happy.

Shopping with Konan proved to be quite the task. Not only books, materials, weapons and other equipment was needed for the academy, but also clothing for Sayuri.

 

The people in Ame looked hardier than her village back at home, but no-one was unkind. In fact they seemed to be in awe of Konan, saying “Good afternoon Konan-sama,” as she walked by.

“Why do they act like that act around you?” Sayuri asked, as some children ran by, chasing a ball worn from age.

 

“They’re grateful I suppose. Some years ago, there was a civil war in this village. Pain, and...our group, we saved this village.”

“Oh...I’m glad there are no wars now.”

“So am I. So am I.”

 

That evening Sayuri was back in her room, having put all her purchases away. It was still plain but Tobi said they could decorate it later. She was staring out the window again. The city was perhaps more beautiful at night. Thousands of electric lights lit up the city in a way she had never seen before.

“Sayuri-chan, come here,” said Tobi

“In a minute, I’m still looking,” she replied, not turning away from the window.

“Sayuri!” His voice was sharp. She started and turned to face him. He was sat on the bed, and patted the space next to him.

“I need to talk to you about something important.”

“Okay,” she said cheerily, sitting next to him.”

“I’m on a very special, secret mission right now-”

“Oh, oh, what kind of mission?!”

“It’s a secret, that means I can’t tell anyone>”

“Oh, yes…” Sayuri knew what secret meant, she wasn’t stupid.

“Apart from the people in this building, no-one knows I am here, so you must promise me, not to breathe a word. My mission is very important for the sake of this world, so you must not say anything. Can you do that for me?”

Sayuri nodded, Tobi was obviously a very skilled ninja, and this must very important for it to be secret like that. She felt special that he had told her. “I promise.”

“Thank you.”

She wrapped her tiny arms around him.Thank you for letting me be in this village Tobi san. And thank you for saving me.” He stiffened for a second, then relaxed into the ug, and a hand went to stroke her hair.

“That’s quite alright little one. Now, off to bed,” he said, pulling apart. 

 

***

Obito shut the door behind him, a grin on his face.

 

“Having fun with Sayuri-chan,” Black Zetsu mocked, his body half way out of the wall

Obito ignored him, and carried on down the corridor.

“What’s your game? We need to stick to the plan that Madara set forth,” came White Zetsu’s voice behind him.

“I will, don’t worry.”

“Worry? I’m only concerned that you will be distracted.”

Obito stopped. ‘Distracted?’ What a suggestion. He turned to face Zetsu “She has a great power I need.”

Zetsu made a face. “I do not see anything about her that is great.”

“I told you, she’s exactly what I want.”

“Whatever you say boss. But make sure that you know what you’re doing.”

“Oh believe me, I know.”

Everything was going exactly as he wanted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while hasn't it? 
> 
> Sorry, I have no excuse, I've just been busy with life and such.
> 
> Will I actually post regularly, who knows?
> 
> Ladle


	4. Training begins

Sayuri thought she was excited to join the academy. That was before she was forced to stand in front of a room full of 30 rather disinterested children, as the teacher, Makoto-sensei introduced her as a new student to the class.

The day had started off well enough. Finding herself unable to sleep, Sayuri had woken in the early hours of the morning, and spent a while staring out of the window, seeing the city move in the creeping light. The rain was reduced to a fine drizzle, and the grey of the city was bathed in a golden glow.

“You’re up early little one.” Sayuri jumped at the voice. How had he gotten in her room without her knowing? She didn’t hear the door open.

“I can’t sleep,” she said, turning her head towards him. Even at this time, he still wore his mask, his dark hair flowing out in layered spikes from behind it.

“Come here,” he said, beckoning her. 

She stepped towards him, and then stopped right in front of him, looking up at the mask. She wondered how long it would take her to grow that tall. Probably years and years. He crouched down to her level, and Sayuri looked him right in the one visible eye.

The eye looked away. “I got you something.”

He produced from his sleeve, a ribbon in emerald green. It was so pretty! Was it for her? Sayuri gave out a squeal of excitement, waving her arms about.

“Shh, turn around.” She did as she was told, and she felt him fixing the ribbon in her hair. When he commented “done”, she ran to the bathroom to get a look at herself in the mirror.

Using her hands to hoist herself up, she saw a lovely green ribbon in her bright red hair. It matched her eyes, Sayuri thought, before her arms gave way and her feet met the ground again

Strong arms wrapped around her and she was held up so she could look properly in the mirror. She grinned at her reflection and it smiled back at her.

“I’m done now,” she said, and he let her down. “Thank you so much for the present, Tobi-san, I really like it!” “Can I go have breakfast now?” she added, suddenly feeling hungry.

He nodded, and she ran out of the bathroom and down the stairs, then skipped along the corridor to the kitchen. She was going to the academy, she was going to become a ninja, a really strong one! She skidded into the kitchen, and then turned back towards the door. Where was Tobi?

She walked back out into the corridor to look for him. “Tobi?” she called out, and walked back up the stairs.

She stopped in the middle of the stairwell, seeing Tobi in conversation with Pain. They were talking in low voices, the kind that grown-ups used when they didn’t want children to hear, so Sayuri quickly crouched down and hoped they didn’t see her.

She caught a snippet of the conversation.

“...why she is here?!” It was Pain’s voice, spoken in an angry whisper.

“Are you questioning me?” The voice was dark, and it sent a shiver up her spine. Was that Tobi? It was like the voice her had used last night, when he wanted her to come away from the window.

He spoke again. ”Sayuri,” She jumped, how did he knew she was there? “Go downstairs to the kitchen and wait for me there.” She didn’t need to be told twice. 

She had been in trouble enough times at school to know what it was like when grown-ups used their mean voice then told you wait somewhere. She had done something wrong again. Pain didn’t want her there and now Tobi was upset with her. She found herself crying and tried to wipe away her tears with the sleeve of her pyjamas. Only babies cried. 

“Shh, it’s okay.” Sayuri suddenly found herself crying against a black shirt, and felt a hand stroke the back of her head

He made soothing sounds, but wait, wasn’t he going to scold her?

But he had seemed angry with her, and Pain definitely didn’t want her here. So she opened her mouth to talk to him. It was better to apologise first, then she wouldn’t be punished as much.

“I’m sorry Tobi-san, I know I was a bad girl for waking up early. I won’t do it again, I’m really sorry, and I’m sorry I’m annoying Pain-san as well.

There was a pause. “What are you talking about little one.

I thought you were angry at me, said sayuri, biting her lip, “You used your scary voice…” She looked at the floor, twisting her body away.

“My scary voice? Well I’ll be sure not to use it again.” 

He took Sayuri’s hand and his manner suddenly changed. “Let’s go get breakfast!” he yelled, and started whizzing around the kitchen.

Tobi was funny. He said the steps in a sing song voice as he performed the actions, and pretended to almost stop things before catching them an inch from the floor. Sayuri laughed and laughed.Then at the end, she was presented with a plate of golden pancakes, decorated with a smiley face drawn in syrup.

They were delicious. Tobi must be good at everything. Her mother never made her pancakes on a school day. Sayuri paused. She found she had no appetite after all.

“Is Sayuri-chan okay?” Came Tobi’s sing-song voice.

“I’m fine. It’s just...Do you know what happens when you die?”

Tobi visibly stiffened. 

“I’m sorry, it was a stupid question,” Sayuri said quickly.

He took a lock of her hair, twirling it in his fingers. He answered her in his normal voice. “No-one knows, I’m sorry.”

It seemed that there were questions that even Tobi couldn’t answer. It was no use getting upset on the first day though, so she resolved that today was going to be a great day, and continued eating her pancakes.

“How tall do I have to be to be a shinobi?” She asked between bites. 

“Oh I don't’ know, you maybe have to grow this much?” He gestured with his finger and thumb.

Sayuri decided she would grow tall to be the best ninja she could be. She found herself daydreaming, being on cool missions with Tobi.

A hand snatched a pancake. Hey she frowned, as he turned his face away a hand slipping under the mask. “Mm yummy!” he said. Sayuri frowned, putting a hand round her plate protectively. ‘My pancakes.’

She was glad that Tobi wasn’t angry with her. He was a good friend.

***  
She wanted to make friends in this lesson too.

Sayuri peered around the room curiously. The students in this class, although a couple of years younger than her, were an altogether different sprt from the girls at her old school. Children in Ame looked more worn, and rough around the edges

“Let’s all make Sayuri welcome here class,” said the teacher, and Sayuri was directed to a seat towards the right side of the class. The boy she sat next to did not say a word to her as the lesson continued, but kept turning and chatting to the boys sat behind him.

As for the class itself, Sayuri found trouble with the lessons from the start. ‘I’ve read about this ninjutsu’, she thought, I can do this just fine. But she was wrong. There was so many parts to being a ninja she had not considered before. Not only ninjutsu, genjutsu and taijutsu, but physics, anatomy, planning, diet, etc, all things she found very overwhelming that first day. More and more she found that she didn't understand what the teacher was talking about, but was too afraid to raise her hand, or even ask the boy next to her. They would all think she was so stupid. 

She did try asking her neighbour for help, but all he did was point at the textbook and say ‘“You talk funny.”The practical portion did not fare her any better. Her technique was unpracticed, abd sloppy, and her opponents got the better of her easily.

At the end of the school day, she rushed back home with tears in her eyes. She collided with someone in the hallway.

“Watch where you’re going,” said Pain, staring down at her.

“Sorry, I..I didn’t mean to,” Sayuri said, her lip quivering.

“Sayuri-chan!” She jumped, where did Tobi come from?

“What are you doing here with Pain-san?” The masked turned from one person to the other.

“Nothing, I bumped into him, but it was an accident, I swear,” said Sayuri, looking at the floor.

“You should be more careful next time, Or I might have to rescind my offer of letting you stay here,” was Pain’s steely response.

Tobi stepped in front of Sayuri, “That’s not very nice to Sayuri-chan,” he said, and for a moment she felt the same energy she had felt back at her village, or should she be calling it chakra now? Tobi’s felt intense and powerful.

Pain locked gazes with Tobi for a few seconds, before saying “Make sure she keeps out of my way.” Then he walked off down the corridor.

Tobi turned to face her. “What’s wrong Sayuri-chan. Something happen?”

“I can’t do it, Tobi-san. Everything at school was too hard for me, I didn’t understand anything!” 

“Maybe you just need some more help,” He held out his hand, “Come,” he said, and she took hold of it.

They went to a training room, where he produced a sword and then held one out to her. Give this a try.

This is so cool, she thought, now I’m like a real ninja. she said, and waved it about haphazardly. She imagined she was fighting off a horde of enemies, defending the village and then becoming a hero. Her daydream was cut off by the sharp clang of metal against metal, and a force against her arms. Tobi sat crossed legged on the floor, holding his own sword against hers. 

“Are you ready?”

She nodded

He stood up and Sayuri held her sword expectant for his attack.

“First of all, we need to hold it properly, he said, and moved her fingers to the right position on the handle. Then he showed her the correct stance, and went through a series of simple moves, always correcting her posture. He was a very thorough teacher, and wouldn't let her make one mistake. After a while Sayuri tired and she tried to stifle a yawn.

“Aren’t we going to go to do some real training?” Sayuri protested, as he called the session to an end. 

“We were doing real training.”

“But I want to spar against you,” she said, rubbing her eyes.

Maybe next time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, would you look at that, it's an update! Short chapter, but eh, this had a lot of bits I snipped.
> 
> I actually can make quite good pancakes myself. From scratch. How does Obito know? Obviously we attended the same cooking class.
> 
> Also ladles are very good tools when making pancakes so there's a tip
> 
> \- Ladle


	5. Building a bathroom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sayuri tries learning a new jutsu. Not everyone is impressed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Um, hi. It's been a very long time, I know.
> 
> A lot of things happened - the biggest one being my laptop broke, so it made writing much more difficult. I've been uhming and aahing over whether I want to continue this fic or not. I do have a clear idea of where I want it to go, and pretty much have the plot or mapped out, in my head, but it's just the difficulty or writing it out.
> 
> Thank you to the reviewer who left me a kind message this month - January 2019 - and gave me the push to keep updating.
> 
> I don't know if I can keep to a regular upload schedule, so I'm just going to keep writing and update when I can. Although I will try not to disappear for months like I have just done!
> 
> This chapter is weird, since half of it is what I wrote several months ago and I just finished it now. I'm not particularly happy with it, but it's done and I'm glad to be getting on with the story.
> 
> Thank you for your support.
> 
> -Ladle

By her third week at the academy, Sayuri’s life had developed a pattern. She would study at the academy, run home, train with Tobi, and go to bed ready for the next day. She was slowly getting used to her lessons. While she hadn't exactly made any firm friends, by that time her peers were accepting of the outsider, and it wasn't like anyone was particularly nasty. Not like before, when she had been teased regularly by the girls in her class. “My mama says that only delinquents are red haired,” one girl had said, pulling on Sayuri’s pigtail.

Home. Sayuri didn’t like to think about it much, for she would inevitably think of her parents, and that made her sad. At least she was no longer getting overwhelmed by every lesson at the academy. That was thanks in part to Tobi’s mentoring, who not only taught her practical skills, but theory as well. 

One day they sat at the kitchen table; Sayuri was finishing a piece homework. There was a class assignment to write an essay on the the battle of kawakita, which occurred two years ago between the forces of Ame and shinobi from the Land of rivers. Sayuri never thought that there would be so much writing in ninja school! 

Tobi was doing, well she didn’t know what he was doing exactly. She knew it must be something related to his super secret mission and Pain’s group - Akatsuki they were called. Sayuri’s thoughts that the matching cloaks were to do with some sort of group were right, but she was apparently mistaken in her belief that Tobi was in charge.

***

“You’ll have to ask Pain,” he said, when she expressed desire to join.

“Pain?” She questioned, taking out the kunai embedded in the target. Her best score so far. Not good enough for Tobi though who would make her practice again and again until dinner.

“Well, he is the one in charge.”

“Oh, I thought you were…” She flexed her hand, which had turned red. The last kunai was very stubborn and didn’t want to shift.

“Me? No, I just help out, that’s all.”

“Oh…” She tried again with the kunai, but no matter how hard she tugged at it, it didn’t move.

Toni’s gloved hand covered hers. “You need to put some chakra into it, like this.”

She felt the warmth of his chakra flow through his hand, and together, they pulled out the kunai.

“So can I join the Akatsuki?”

“I told you, you’ll have to ask Pain.”

So she did.

“No,” was the answer.

***

Tobi had a few scrolls out on the table that he appeared to be studying, but whenever she tried to glance at them he would shield them from her view and tell her to concentrate on her homework. So she gave up and turned her attention to her work.

Satisfied that her essay was complete, Sayuri stretched, arms out wide. No more homework! She sighed in satisfaction and let her arms drop down again, then started to amuse herself by rolling her pencil back and forth across the table.

Tobi raised his head. “You’re done?” 

“Yes,” she confirmed, swinging her legs under the table in the manner of someone who could now do whatever they wanted before bedtime.

“Good, because there’s something I need to tell you.”

Sayuri sat straighter in her seat. “What, what?” Was he going to show her some super cool move? She asked him a week ago if he knew any. “Lots”, he had said. 

But this was something far less exciting.

“I’ll be going away from tomorrow. It’s an important mission, so I need you to stay here and behave.”

Sayuri deflated. “But… but who is going to train me?”

“Oh I’m sure you’ll be fine on your own for a few days, hmm.”

“But that’s not fair,” she sulked. Why did he have to leave? Tobi had said he would always be there for her, and now he was going off places. What did he even have to do anyway?

“Are you done?” His voice snapped her out of the thoughts, and with a burning of her cheeks, Sayuri realised she had been muttering under her breath.

“I’m sorry,” she said, biting her lip. She was being selfish. She couldn’t expect Tobi to stay with her all the time. “I’ll work really hard when you’re away,” she said confidently.

There was a sound of acknowledgement, and then her paper was suddenly snatched up from infront of her.

“Hey!” Sayuri protested. She didn’t want Tobi to read it, he would only pick out what she did wrong. She tried to take it back, but he held it high above his head. When she stood on the chair to try and reach it, he held it behind his back.

Sayuri sat down with a sigh, resting her head on her closed fists. She sighed again, crossed her arms, and pouted at his mask. The black stripes stared back at her unmoving. If only she could see his face underneath.

‘Quick, while he’s distracted, reading the essay!’ Her hand went out, just a finger away from the edge of his mask and...

“Stop.” He caught her wrist in his hand. He let go, and resumed reading.

As she sat holding her wrist, a plan formed in her mind. Sayuri made a show of rubbing her wrist and making an exclamation of pain.

He put the paper down. “What’s wrong?”

“It really hurts!” she said, making sure to make herself seem very pitiful.

“Let me see,” said Tobi, offering out his hand. Sayuri placed her wrist in his palm, and he looked at it closely, turning it over.

“I don’t see anything…”

“That’s because it’s fine!” she said, snatched up the essay and ran off.

It took only a few seconds for him to catch up, and soon Tobi stood in front of her, hand out flat.

“Give it back.”

“No, it’s mine,” she said, clutching it tighter behind her back.

“Will you stop acting like this?” He grabbed her arm and tried to yank the essay out of her hand.

There was the sound of ripping, and Sayuri looked at the torn scrap of paper in her hand. 

She stood pursing her mouth tight and swallowing a lump in her throat. She wouldn’t cry. She was a ninja now. She was strong.

Her vision blurred and she felt arm pull her to a warm body and a hand stroking her hair. 

“Sayuri, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean…”

She rested against the black fabric, sniffling against him.

“I want them back.”

“I know.”

“I wish they didn’t die.”

“I know.”

“I wish you weren’t going away.”

He pulled away from her and crouched in front of her, his eye looking directly at her.

“I know, but I have to. But you be good for me, okay?” 

“Okay”, she nodded, wiping her tears away with the back of her hand. 

He straightened up, and patted her on the head. 

“Tobi-san, how long will your mission take?”

“About a week or something.”

A week. She could do a week, it would be fine. “When you’re back I’ll have learned a new jutsu!”

“Is that so?” he asked, twirling a lock of her hair between his fingers.

Sayuri nodded determinedly. She would show him.

 

***

 

Sayuri skidded in to the kitchen, and looked at he clock on the wall. “5 minutes 3 seconds!” Poo, that’s worse than yesterday! Her record was 4 minutes 47 so far. 

After a moment to catch her breath, she headed to the training room.

A whole new jutsu in a week. 

That whole day at school she had spent the time trying to come up with something. Something to do with water, she supposed. She seemed to have a knack for that particular nature, apparently. Or as Tobi called, it an affinity. 

In the training room, Sayuri focused her self, then performed the signs for a water bullet jutsu. A small jet of water streamed towards the dummy, barely affecting it. She would need to work hard to make any difference.

After ten tries, she had managed to make a dent in the. After twenty she managed to make the steam bigger. After 30 she had the water flow for made it last longer.  
After 40, a stern voice had asked;

“Are you trying to make a new bathroom?”

Sayuri jumped, and looked round to see Pain standing in the doorway, his face as stern as usual. She flushed in embarrassment. 

She had been trying to stay on the good side of him since this morning when she had made a lot of noise in the kitchen by sending all the pots and pans clattering to the floor. She had only been trying to make breakfast. Tobi normally cared for that but with him gone she would have to make do on her own. 

But Pain had not been sympathetic and complained “Who is making that abominable noise?” He had walked into the kitchen, eyes half open, and glared when he saw it was her.

And that afternoon it seemed, he was grumpy again.

“No, sorry Pain-sama, I was just trying out a new jutsu.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “Why don’t you learn a clean-up-the-water jutsu while you’re at it.”

“But I...I don’t know how.”

Pain sighed, and showed her a couple of hand-signs. “Try this,” he said, and left her on her own again.

She did the hand signs as he had done, and the water evaporated. ‘Cool,’ she thought.

“Thank you!” She called out to Pain’s retreating form.

By the end of the third day, she sent the dummy in to the back wall and managed to hold it there for ten seconds Pain had come to watch again, just for a few minutes, as he had done the day before, but he did not make any comments on her performance. She felt slightly self-conscious with an audience, but he was no worse than Tobi. Besides, she could use the opportunity to ask some questions.

“Pain-sama, the Akatsuki, what is it that you do?”

A pause.

“What is it that you think we do?”

“Erm, super cool ninja stuff?”

“Right. And you think that being a ninja is some sort of game, do you?”

“No, I just thought...maybe I could help.”

Pain narrowed his eyes and left.

***

Konan took a little while to answer when Sayuri asked her about the Akatsuki the next day. Say floral bouquets dotted around the place were not in fact real flowers, but ones that Konan had crafted herself out of paper. Sayuri was helping her make new floral arrangements, but she couldn’t make beautiful pieces like Konan did and kept ruining the coloured squares of paper.

“Peace…” 

“Huh?”

Konan opened up her hands which had been working at a piece of purple paper to reveal a delicate chrysanthemum, an intricate shape of tiny petals. It was beautiful.

“Sorry, you were asking what it is we do?” 

Sayuri nodded.

“Well that’s it. I mean of course we do what anyone else does. Take on missions and the like, but our main purpose, our goal, is peace.”

Sayuri put down the piece of paper she was working on. It was no use; it wouldn’t come out well no matter what she did. “But I thought we already had peace?”

“There’s always fighting somewhere. We want to put a stop to it. Once and for all.” Konan started arranging the paper flowers into a vase.

It was an admirable cause. Of course Tobi would be part of such a great organisation. What would it be like to fight alongside him, ridding the world of evil?

“Do you think I can join, when I’m older?”

Konan gave her a long look. “Maybe, I don’t know.”

 

Sayuri hoped so.

***  
On the fifth day, she sent the dummy hurtling against the back wall, held it in place for twenty seconds or so, then let it come crashing to the ground.

“Use it against me.”

Sayuri whipped around at the sound of the voice. He was home! She wanted to run and give Tobi a hug, but she had to be serious.

“But...you might get hurt.”

“Try it.”

She aimed, and the jet of water hit him square in the stomach, then he disappeared, and a the dummy was in his place.

She had no time to think about the substitution when, a force from behind knocked her to the ground.

“You’re meant to see through the substitution jutsu little one.”

Sayuri got up off the floor, saying “But that’s not fair, I wasn’t ready.”

“That just tells me you need to train harder,” he held out her sword for her to grasp it, “spar with me.”

She took the sword and readied herself for his attack.

She managed to keep up a front for a few minutes dodging and ducking, fending off his blows. It was silly to think she could ever land a strike against him. Not before she trained a bit more. However, she felt pleased she could defend herself against him for even a short while.

Sayuri could not keep up the defence forever though, and soon found a sword point at her throat. She stumbled to the floor and looked up into the face of the mask. She felt her heart thump wildly in her chest and thought of what Tobi’s enemies must feel like. He was terrifying. Then the sword was lowered and he crouched down to sit beside her. He was kind Tobi again, and would never hurt her. She rested her head against him, her breathing slow and heavy.

“Welcome home,” she smiled.

His hand came up to stroke her hair. “It’s good to be back.”

“Where did you go?”

He paused before answering. “The Land of Water.”

“That’s the one with all the islands isn’t it? I’ve never seen the sea, can I go sometime?”

“Maybe. Are you hungry?”

She nodded. She wanted pancakes.


	6. Mayumi

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi darlings!
> 
> I typed most of this up in one evening. I think my strategy now might be shorter chapters more often. Anyway, enjoy!

Following his first absence, Tobi continued to disappear for periods at a time.

He wouldn’t always tell her where he was going, even when she begged him to, saying "please" in her best voice. He just said “It’s a secret,” or gave some sort of vague answer. Sometimes he didn’t tell her he was going at all, and would come home to find him absent and had to wait until he came back.

When she asked the other inhabitants where he had gone, she got some variant of "I don't know,"; "Stop bothering me," and "I eat little girls for dinner." She wasn't sure if that one was a joke or not, but decided not to hang around Zetsu too much on her own.

The academy was getting better. Still, she had not made much in the way of friends, but no-one was outright mean to her, and she was finding the lessons much easier to understand. It was helpful that she had her own personal tutor to speed up her training.

He told her they had to do genjutsu next. Sayuri pouted at this. She hated genjutsu, if only because she wasn't very good at it.

It was approaching six months at the academy when she was asked to stay behind after class one afternoon. Sayuri wondered what it was she did wrong. She had never been in trouble before. Not yet at Ame, at least. The look on Makoto-sensei's face wasn't a frown though. Rather, his expression was quite kind.

“Tattemae-san, how are you finding lessons at the moment?”

Was this some kind of test?

“Good, sensei.”

“Good? Are you not finding it too easy?”

Sayuri considered. It did seem she had the edge on her classmates nowadays. “Um, a little.”

The teacher gave her a look. “Well, I’ve been talking to the other teachers, and Konan-sama. We decided it was best if you moved up a class."

"Okay...When would I move?"

"Well I don't see any reason to delay. There's still some paperwork to sort, but you should start in Naoki-sensei's class this Thursday. Have a good evening, Tattemae-san."

Sayuri bowed deeply. "Thank you so much for teaching me, Makoto-sensei."

***

The students in her new class were older, and Sayuri was conscious of them staring at her as she stood at the front. She had thought it would be easier since she had already done this before. But while her previous peers had been largely apathetic, this class seemed a lot more focused, and Sayuri tried not to look directly at anyone for too long, putting on her best smile.

Naoki-sensei was a tall, thin woman, and she had smiled encouragingly to Sayuri as she made her self-introduction to the class.

She was sat next to a girl called Kamichou Mayumi. She had a head full of blonde ringlets and a habit of chewing on the end of her pencil when thinking, so the wooden implement was covered in tiny little bite marks. Sayuri smiled brightly at her as she sat down, and was met with a small smile in return. Mayumi looked as if she was about to ask Sayuri something, then shut her mouth and turned back towards the front, fiddling with a piece of paper on her desk.

Sayuri turned her head towards her, "Is anything the matter?"

Mayumi looked up. "No, it's nothing."

"Okay," said Sayuri cheerily, and decided to leave things as they were.

This class was definitely more of a challenge, which meant Sayuri had to really concentrate on the quiz the students were given that lesson.

Suddenly she felt a sharp poke in her arm, and looked up to see Mayumi with her pencil in her hand and a frown on her face.

"Sorry," she said in a low voice, "I tried to whisper but you weren't listening. Do you know the answer to question 4?"

"4? I got B," Sayuri whispered back. It wasn't a marked test after all.

When the bell for lunch rang, Mayumi said, "Um, this is for you." Resting on the palm of her hand was a tiny paper butterfly.

"It's beautiful, thank you," Sayuri replied, cupping her hands to receive the gift. Mayumi placed it in her hands, and up-close Sayuri could see the folds of paper in the tiny body.

They were approached by a girl with shocking pink hair. "Mayumi-chan!" Said the girl by way of greeting. "Oh hello," she said, addressing Sayuri for the first time.

"Hello, it's nice to meet you," Sayuri smiled.

"Oh sorry," said Mayumi, "Sayuri-chan, can I call you Sayuri chan?" She nodded. Mayumi continued. "Sayuri-chan, this is my good friend Reika. Reika-chan, this is Sayuri. She's new."

Reika rolled her eyes. "I already know that, I've been here all morning!"

Mayumi frowned. "I was just saying to be nice. Come on I'm hungry, let's eat."

Sayuri put down the paper butterfly on a corner of her desk and followed the girls to the lunch room. The school at her home village put a lot of emphasis of the students helping to prepare lunch at school then eat it together, but in Amegakure, everyone brought their own lunch with them.

"So, what’s it like then?" asked Reika in between bites. "Sayuri-chan, I'm asking you."

Sayuri tilted her head to the side. "What’s what like?"

"Konoha." "

Konoha?" Why were they talking about Konoha all of a sudden?

"Yah. That's what I said, Konoha. You know, The Village Hidden in the Leaves," Reika said, resting her elbow on the table and waving her arm around, "Where you're from." She pointed at Sayuri.

"I'm not from Konoha..."

Reika swallowed the rice she was eating. "You're not?"

"Told you," said Mayumi, and popped a piece of sushi in her mouth.

Sayuri looked between the two girls. What was going on?

"Why did you think I was from Konoha?" she asked in a small voice.

Reika flushed. "Well I just heard...but it's okay, you're not."

Mayumi looked at Reika and frowned. Then she smiled at Sayuri. "Don't worry. Just some things people were saying. But you're fine. You're not from Konoha."

"And that's a good thing?"

"Oh yes," said Reika empathetically, "It means you're not an enemy spy."

"Reika!"

"What? I said she wasn't. You don't sound like you're from Konoha anyway, Sayuri-chan. Your voice is all wrong. I mean right. It's okay"

"It is?" Sayuri bit her lip.

Was there some secret that she wasn't allowed to know? Could she never truly be an Ame shinobi?

"You don't even know what Konoha shinobi sound like," said Mayumi.

"Yes I do. There was one there, when the restaurant was destroyed. He was definitely from Konoha." "

You said he was wearing a rebreather. And he had the Ame headband."

"But even so, he was from Konoha, I know it."

Sayuri was getting more and more confused by the second.

"Listen to this Sayuri-" Just then the bell rang to signal lunch had finished.

"I'll tell you later," Reika said, as they began to file out of the lunch room.

***

When a five minute break was called that afternoon, Reika rushed over from her side of the classroom to where Sayuri and Mayumi were sat.

"So, it's like this. My family have this restaurant, and it used to be in the main part of town, you know, by the greengrocers and the kimono shop?" Sayuri knew. The kimono in the window always had beautiful patterns. It would be nice to wear one, one day.

"So anyway, during the war, you know the war in Ame, when Pain-sama defeated Hanzo?" Sayuri nodded. Tobi had told her. She had been sad to know that people had suffered, and resolved to train harder. Amegakure was becoming a place she wanted to protect.

"Yes. So my family used to live above where the restaurant was, me and my parents. And I woke up because I heard fighting so I looked out and I could see Pain-sama's forces fighting this person that was from Konoha, and then this person said something like 'Die scum!' and did some jutsu and it made our restaurant collapse."

"It fell down with you on the floor above? That's horrible." Sayuri couldn't imagine how terrifying it must have been for Reika. She couldn't have been older than five at the time.

"Well it fell down later. It was just damaged then. But the point is I know it was a Konoha shinobi because I heard them."

Mayumi frowned.

"And I could have almost died,"Reika finished.

"Really?!"

"Yes, but I was okay. I lived," Reika put her hand to her chest in a dramatic gesture. "But I'm fine now."

"Well I'm glad. I'm sorry that happened to you Reika-chan. Are your family all okay now?"

"Yes we're fine." Reika frowned. "Apart from my baby brother, who is too annoying." Sayuri smiled. "

But Taro-kun is so cute!" said Mayumi.

Reika looked appalled. "Fine, you can have him."

"Okay, five minute break is over! Could everyone get back into their assigned seats please!" Naoki-sensei called.

Reika didn't move. "So that's why I don't like people from Konoha."

"Hirayama-san! Get back in your seat please!" Reika gave a start. "I am sensei, I was just telling Tattemae-san about the time where I nearly died."

There was a collective groan from the class.

"Yes, I'm sure you were. Now would you get back into your seat? Now."

***

Mayumi asked Sayuri if she would like to do some training together after school. "We could practice shuriken or something?"

"Wouldn't you like to practice with Reika?"

"No, she likes to go straight home."

"Okay, I'll train with you," Sayuri smiled. "But not today. I need to ask-" A sudden sharp pain cut Sayuri short. She was almost going to say Tobi, but just as her mouth was forming the T, she felt something like a jab to her tongue.

"Are you okay?" 

Sayuri smiled in what she hoped was a reassuring manner. "Yes, fine. I'll have to check if it's okay. Maybe tomorrow?"

"Great."

Sayuri raced home, the thoughts of the day in her head. She was finally making friends and starting to fit in at Amegakure. She couldn't wait to tell Tobi.

***

She called out his name as she searched through the house. He was meant to be home. had he gone off on a surprise mission again?

"Sayuri-chan!" Came a sing-song voice.

She whipped around. Why was he always popping up out of nowhere?

"Tobi Tobi Tobi! Guess what, guess what, guess what," she said, launching into an account of all the events of that day. "...and can I please train with my friend tomorrow?"

"Your friend? I thought Tobi was your friend?"

"You are my best friend, but I want to train with my new friend, Mayumi. Pleaaaase."

"Okay, if Sayuri-chan does well in her genjutsu this evening."

"But I thought was next week!" Sayuri complained, and slid down the wall.

"No, its now." The sing-song voice was gone. "Get up."

Sayuri sighed, but did as she was told.

***

It was a simple premise. Tobi would create a genjutsu and all Sayuri would have to do was break it. It would be simple. She had studied chakra control enough.

Then his eye turned red.

She was at her parents house. No she wasn't, she was back in Ame with Tobi. It was a genjutsu. She needed to break it.

Focus.

Her parents house again. Her mother calling her name. No, her mother was dead. And she'd never see her again. She just needed to disrupt her chakra and to do that she needed to -

Her father, this time, the silhouette of his body. "Come with us, Sayuri-chan." The figure held out a hand. No. Not real father. Stupid fake one. She just needed to be calm and breathe.

Her mother, covered in blood. "It's all your fault, Sayuri. If you weren't so selfish, and behaved yourself, none of this would have happened." No. Not real. Fake. Go away. Why had she suddenly forgotten everything about chakra manipulation?

Her father again, a sword plunged through him. "Silly girl, you're not even going to be a good shinobi." Stop it. "It's all your fault. Look what you've done!" She was holding the sword, covered in blood. She did this. No. Stop it. Sayuri pulled at her hair.

"We never even loved you." Stop it, stop it, stop it! Sayuri bit down hard on her arm. The scene dissipated.

A red eye.

Black.

***

He left her on her bed. She would wake up in her own time.

"Haven't you overdone it?" Zetsu asked. Obito ignored him. Maybe he had done too much. For all her spirit, she was still very small. Just a child. No, a silly little girl. Rin was all that mattered.

"I thought the aim was to make her compliant," Zetsu continued, "I don't know how torturing her is going to achieve that."

"I know what I'm doing."

"If you say so. **I still say we should eat her**. What, no! **I found them, Obito.** " "Show me."

As he went to the other dimension, he smiled behind the mask. Things were going well. He was going to make them pay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos are appreciated.


End file.
